XMen Forever II
by Valeria Kementari
Summary: Cyclops, Storm, Northstar, Caledonia, Shard, Crusader and Brute, seven heroes plucked from their home realities and forced to fix several imbalances throughout the Multiverse. Can they prevail and save reality?


**Prologue**

Amidst all things that are real, in a nameless dimension, between the bands of time, there stood the Maximum Secret. A citadel of wondrous design, home to an order of chronologists, scholars of time. For thousands of millenia it had existed, undetected, unseen, monitoring the comings and goings of time-travelers, helping repair the damage done to the timestream. For the first time since its creation, a wondrous event unfolded before these caretakers of reality.  
"This... is inconceivable," said Jacob Sutton, his eyes unwilling to believe the sight before him.  
"We all heard the whispers, the legends... but I don't think any of us believed it..," said Marcel, slowly moving forward. His boss, Jacob, placed a hand before him, stopping him.  
"What does it mean, Jacob?" asked Nora, his trusted assitant  
Jacob Sutton did not speak. The entire crew of the Maximum Secret stood behind him. His eyes stared at the wondrous crystal glowing in front of him. He knew its name, they all did. The Forever Crystal had materialized there. He knew it to be a force, perhaps the ultimate power over time. A crystal that touched every single reality, and the Maximum Secret's biggest fear. Their job was to caretake time, throughout the trillions upon trillions of realities. The Forever Crystal had the power to destroy an entire reality, if its wielder wished to, to rearrange time, to do virtually anything. Jacob remembered the trouble it caused on the hands of Immortus. He dreaded to think who wielded it know.  
He lifted his hand, slowly moving towards it, attempting to touch it. And then it happened. Jacob Sutton did not have time to scream. A bolt of pure-white energy flew from the crystal, bathing him, and Jacob Sutton, leader of the chronologists, was erased from all existance. Panic followed. The assembled residents of the Maximum Secret began to die, began to dissapear as white light flowed from the Forever Crystal. And through all the chaos, as they died, a maniacal laughter filled the air.  
And then it was all over. In less than a second, the entire order of chronologists was gone, and a shadowed figure formed itself behind the crystal. Long, slender fingers wrapped itself around it, as a cloaked figure smiled. "No more interference. No more," she said simply. The crystal glowed and she was gone, as swiftly as she had appeared.  
Time passed. A second, a millenia, there was truly no time outside of reality, inside the Maximum Secret. A faint light glowed, and a man walked through it, entering time's biggest secret. The man removed his hood, revealing his features, his visor-covered eyes. And the man known solely as Libra gasped. "It was true. My wanderings lead me here. A great evil was commited, the balance must be served."  
"Indeed, human," said a young little girl, sitting casually over a ledge. Libra bowed as he heard the girl's voice. And she spoke again. "I allowed to come here for a reason. You serve balance, you alone have the power to find those suited for the job. The fate of the Multiverse lies in your hands."  
"Then I shall do what I must," answered Libra, his hands glowing as the infinite lights of the Maximum Secret's machines bursted to life once more.

**Chapter One: Gathering most unexpected.**

"Shard-- he's taken so much from us, already. I can't do this. Not with-- yeeeeeargh..."  
"You have to, Bishop."  
"I... I must. I WILL."  
The young mutant closed her eyes tighter. Her mind slowly began reforming itself. The last words of Bishop, her brother, sounded heavily. She felt her body, her arms, her legs, an electric tingle coursing through her brain. And, slowly she opened her eyes. "Where?" she asked in a hushed tone. His brother was fighting Fitzroy, she willingly allowed him to absorb her, for she was made of energy, a photon-based lifeform. And Bishop had channeled her and blasted her towards a portal, a portal through time. And now she was here, lying on a rooftop. She sat, looking at the city around, there was no mistaking it, she was in New York City. She stood up, slowly, leaves flew by her, and she could see snow covering the city, yet she felt no cold, nor the wind. She knew she was still a photon-based lifeform, a living hologram, an energy being. She sighed, resigned, when she heard screams of panic and several guns going off in the distance. She moved closer to the edge of the rooftop, when a blinding flash of light erupted behind her. Shard turned, startled and saw six figures emerging from the light.  
"Where?" asked a man with bright red eyes and a costume with a gigantic X across his chest.  
Shard observed the people before them, they were all disoriented. She recognized one of them, Northstar, even though his costume was different from teh one she knew. But the others were not known to her. A tall, black man with long white hair and a cape resembling Storm's, a young blonde girl dressed in green with Captain America's shield, a woman with long bright orange hair and a strange costume resembling Captain Britain's and, behind them, a creature of green skin, with hooves, hair on its shoulders and gigantic monster-like ears. Shard did not know who they were, nor she cared much, but she felt a conection to these strangers. Before anyone could gather their bearings the screams intensified, and Shard turned once more to see the streets. A dozen police officers ran for their lives, shooting over their shoulders.  
"Cyclops, sir... is that you? You... died..." said the young blonde girl. "Who are you? Who are all of you?" asked Cyclops confused, looking at the rest.  
"Who are we? Who are you?" asked the tall black man, his eyes turning white as the skies turned darker.  
"Hey! Where am, who are you?" asked Northstar, looking at Shard, moving fast to her side "Why did you bring us here?"  
Shard continued looking at the street. She saw a pack of mutants, killing police officers and chasing the rest. "I didn't bring you here. I don't know who you are, but down there, people are dying. I can't let that happen," she said, and without waiting she jumped to the street.  
The gathered mutants looked at each other confused, and then the green creature spoke. "We all seem to bear a semblance to an X-Man or two, my displaced acquaintances, so it would not be too preposterous to think we are all part of the hero folk. I strongly advice we follow the reasoning of our departed stranger."  
"You are right... let's move..." said Cyclops, walking towards the ledge. The others followed suit.  
Shard landed and ran towards the mutants. She recognized a young Magneto leading a pack of vicious teenagers, in his group there were two cat-like girls, their claws red with blood, a kid with a hole on his chest and energy pouring from it, a mutant looking a lot like Wildchild, her former lover, and a couple more she didn't recognize. She walked through the police officers and stood on their way.  
"Move sister, or you join the sapiens," said the young Magneto, threatingly, his hand glowing and several bullets floating around him.  
"I can't let you kill them, Magneto," said Shard, her hands glowing as well.  
"You know who I am, then you know who I serve. You must be mad to try to stop me, " said Magneto, he moved his hand, releasing the bullets towards her. Shard fired her photonic blast, a semblance of her mutant power, and she was able to destroy several bullets in the air, but others flying past her, and found their targets in the humans.  
Shard fired a blast at Magneto, but the kid with the energy chest fired a beam of energy at her discharge, sending it in another direction and Magneto smiled, he flicked his fingers, and the two cat-like girls left the corpses they were playing with and jumped towards Shard.  
A blur of white, red and blue flew past Shard and it hit one of the girls, taking her down. A blast of pure crimson energy hit the other girl, sending her towards a building.  
"I don't know why you are doing this Erik, but you have to stop right now," said Cyclops, the others forming behind him.  
Magneto looked at him, at this gathered team of unknown mutants and frowned "You fools, no one stands against us, no one can dare defeat the X-Men!" he shouted. Acting as one, his followers threw themselves at their enemies. Northstar used his super speed and ran towards a tall rock-like mutant, and began running around him at his topmost speed.  
The woman with the Captain Britain outfit drew her sword, as a girl with long purple hair attacked her with an energy sword. The swords clashed and the two women began to fight.  
The green creature jumped landing in front of a tall mutant with fangs and claws. "My dear foe, seems we have no other choice but to fight each other. Might I ask you to forfeit?"  
"Caliban knows not what green-monster speaks. Caliban will stop green-monster," said the mutant, lifting his hands above his head and then lowering them towards Beast.  
"Oh my, you are a literate, I stand before a gifted mind. Let me then speak in terms you might understand. Me Beast, me not want to fight," he said, easily avoided the attack.  
Shard fired a blast at the energy-chest mutant, recognizing him at last as Chamber, who fired a blast as well, deflecting hers once more.  
The blonde girl threw her shield at Magneto, who easily moved his fingers, making it miss his target with his magnetic powers. Cyclops let loose a blast, hitting Magneto on his face, making him go back a few steps.  
The tall black man did not move, he merely watched the fight, watching this team of unknown strangers fighting the young teenagers, when he saw a girl hiding in an alley, covered in darkness. The girl lifted her hand towards Northstar, and a blast of darkforce impacted the speedster, stopping him on his tracks. The rock-mutant was on all fours, his breathing ragged and he stood up, lifting his arms, ready to hit Northstar, who was recovering from the attack. Without hesitation, his eyes turned white and a bolt of lightning fell from the skies, hitting the rock-like mutant, who screamed and fell to the ground.  
Northstar, rubbing the back of his head, turned to see the black man, standing in the distance, looking his way, and ran towards him. "Thanks..." he said.  
"There is no need to thank me. There is another one in the alley, hiding..." he said, still unmoving.  
Northstar ran and found a young girl he recognized as Darkstar, without hesitation he punched her once, twice, until she fell unconscious, and ran back to the black man's side. "So, any clue as to what we're doing here?"  
"We are fighting them," he replied simply. A strong wind bursted from out of nowhere and he began to levitate, his cape unfolding, revealing an lightning shaped S across his chest. He gestured and a strong wind attacked the purple-haired girl, throwing her backwards, freeing the Captain Britain look alike.  
The woman looked up, seeing Storm and then moved forward, she saw Beast jumping back and forth, avoiding Caliban's punches, and swiftly punched the tall mutant in the back, sending him against a building with her super-strength.  
Chamber fired a new blast at Shard, who smiled. The blast passed right through her, without affecting her, and she replied firing a blast of her own at the startled youth, hitting him and rendering him unconscious.  
Magneto used his powers to direct the shield at Cyclops deflecting his blasts. A roar of thunder made him look to the skies and his eyes widened as he saw a man looking like Storm, his eyes white and lightning forming behind him. And as he stared in surprise, the blonde girl flew towards him at her topmost speed and hit him, felling him at last.  
They moved as one, regruping, when they heard clapping. They turned to see a robed man walking out of the dark alley. "Very well done X-Men, but you still must learn to work as a group."  
Northstar used his speed, grabbing the man by his robes and pushing him against the nearest wall. "You know us? Who are you, where are we?"  
"Relax Northstar, I mean you know harm. my name is Libra, I am a servant of balance..." said the robed man. "You have all been chosen for a unique mission."  
"And what is that?" asked Shard crossing her arms.  
"To save all that is," said Libra simply. "The time is short, as you might notice I am using my powers to make time slow down, so we can talk without interference. It would be easier if you would let me go, Jean Paul."  
Northstar turned and saw Storm, who nodded and Northstar released the man.  
"The Multiverse is in danger. Events happening in the main reality are causing ripples in time, creating chaos throught the larger omniverse. There is great need to fix these imbalances and stop the threat before all reality is altered forever," spoke Libra. "You have all been carefully chosen for this mission. Brute, Henry McCoy of Earth 1298, Caledonia, Alysande Stuart of Earth 9809, Crusader, Sarah Rogers of Earth 9811, Storm, Ororo Munroe of Earth 4411, Northstar, Jean Paul Beaubier of Earth 4422, Shard Bishop, of Earth 11911, and Cyclops, Scott Summers of Earth 2200. You all hail from different worlds, but your lives are intertwined with the original reality, with Earth 616."  
"I have been aware of the existence of alternate worlds for quite some time now, but to be actually a part of an assemble of beings... oh, and I no longer go by the name of Brute. That name lost all sense when my mind returned to me," said Henry McCoy.  
"What gives you the right to bring us here with no previous notice? To shangai us from our worlds?" asked Storm, ignoring McCoy.  
"There is... a high authority involved. I was asked to search for the right people for the job. You are it," said Libra simply.  
"That still doesn't answer the question," said Cyclops, crossing his arms. "What do we have to do?" asked Caledonia, sheathing her sword.  
"You will know in time," replied Libra, and slowly began to dissapear.  
"Hey!" shouted Northstar, but the man was gone before he could even react.  
"What now?" asked Crusader, looking at Cyclops.  
Suddenly, Cyclops fell to the ground on his back, crushed by a stranger. They all turned to see a man they all knew.  
"Who the f are you? Cyclops is long dead," said Wolverine, popping two of his claws next to Cyclops' neck.  
Scott Summers did not hesitate and fired a blast of crimson energy powerful enough to make Wolverine fly backwards. Crusader grabbed him by his clothes and pinned him against a wall.  
"I am sorry Wolverine, sir, but Cyclops is with us," said Crusader.  
Wolverine stared at the strange group, his eyes fixed on each for a second, and when he looked at Storm he was genuinously surprised. He sniffed the air and then spoke "You are not from around here. I should've known earlier... I'm getting to old for this shit." Thunder broke in the distance and they turned to Storm, who slowly negated with his head. "Oh great... we gotta run... you don't beat the crap out of the X-Boys without answering to her..."  
"Her who?" asked Cyclops, standing up.  
"You won't believe me," replied Wolverine as Crusader released him. "Follow me if you want to live."  
They all turned to Cyclops, who slowly began to follow Wolverine. The mutant led them to the nearest sewer entrance, removed the lid and jumped downwards.  
"Great, now we are going to get our costumes filthy..." mumbled Northstar.  
"Worry not swift comrade, I have developed a most effective way of cleaning the unstable molecules of ... your costume is made of unstable molecules right?" asked McCoy.  
"What's unstable molecules?" replied Northstar, entering the sewer.  
Wolverine did not wait until all of them had landed. He began to run wildly and the others followed suit.  
"Where are we going to Wolverine?" asked Shard, running next to him. "Morlock Central," replied Wolverine.  
Storm used his winds to fly above the water through the sewers.  
"So... you are Ororo Munroe? How is that? The Ororo I know is a woman," asked Northstar running next to him.  
"I used to be a woman, until a mission... went wrong," he answered.  
"How?" asked Crusader, flying forward, obviously interested in the subject.  
Storm turned to see the youngster and replied "A scientist attempted to rid the world of mutants, his experiments went awry and altered the genetic structure of the X-Men present. Our genders reversed."  
"Interesting, of course to actually alter the gender defining cromosones would need a radiation capable of altering live DNA without destroying the tissue, it would be most astounding to investigate the radiation that caused such drastic change, not to mention the psychological effects on the affected targets," mused McCoy running below them.  
"You carry Captain America's shield," said Storm, not really asking.  
"He's my dad," she answered, and before Northstar opened his mouth she said "Rogue's my mom. At first I thought you were Aunt Ororo's son... it is really weird to know it's not like that."  
"Aunt Ororo?" asked Northstar.  
"Yes, I'm sorry, that's how I call her, all of my friends call her that, except Kendall of course... I mean, Kendall is Aunt Ororo's daughter."  
"And her father?" asked Storm looking forward.  
"His counterpart's leading us," replied Crusader.  
"Ever had any experience with other realities?" asked Cyclops at the woman running next to him.  
"Yes. I spent some time on this so-called main reality. And, as a member of the Captain Britain Corps, I am ... familiar with the concept," replied Caledonia.  
"I also have some experience... Regretably it's not as good as yours," said Cyclops darkly, his red eyes glowing in the dark corridors.  
Suddenly, Wolverine stopped in his tracks, and everyone stopped behind him. "Are we there?" asked Shard.  
"Not yet," said Wolverine, he jumped out of the water and into the small corridor next to it. He lifted his hand and the middle claw popped and he jammed in a small hole in the wall. A hologram in the wall faded, revealing two gigantic steel doors, opening slowly, with bright erupting from it. "Creepy," said Crusader, tightening the grip on her shield, landing on the corridor.  
Wolverine looked at the team and then at the doorway, where a single woman dressed fully in white came out from. The woman looked at the team and her eyes glowed, viciously attacking them with her telepathic powers.  
The X-Men screamed and fell as the psychic bolt hit their minds. The woman removed her hood and looked at Wolverine. "Who are these people?"  
"They might be our final hope darlin'... now call the others, we have to get them inside," he said, crouching next to the unconscious Crusader and taking her through the doors.


End file.
